When Arcs Extend Uniquely: A Higher-Dimensional Generalization of Barlotti's Result

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Alderson, Tim L.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866912696029413376
author Alderson, Tim L.
author_facet Alderson, Tim L.
contents In this short communication, we generalize a classical result of Barlotti concerning the unique extendability of arcs in the projective plane to higher-dimensional projective spaces. Specifically, we show that for integers \( k \ge 3 \), \( s \ge 0 \), and prime power \( q \), any \((n, k + s - 1)\)-arc in PG\((k - 1, q)\) of size \( n = (s+1)(q+1) + k - 3 \) admits a unique extension to a maximal arc, provided \( s + 2 \mid q \) and \( s < q - 2 \). This result extends the classical characterizations of maximal arcs in PG\((2,q)\) and connects naturally to the theory of A$^s$MDS codes. Our findings establish conditions under which linear codes of given dimension and Singleton defect can be uniquely extended to maximal-length projective codes.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2511_06193
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle When Arcs Extend Uniquely: A Higher-Dimensional Generalization of Barlotti's Result
Alderson, Tim L.
Combinatorics
Discrete Mathematics
Primary: 94B65, Secondary: 94B25, 94B27
In this short communication, we generalize a classical result of Barlotti concerning the unique extendability of arcs in the projective plane to higher-dimensional projective spaces. Specifically, we show that for integers \( k \ge 3 \), \( s \ge 0 \), and prime power \( q \), any \((n, k + s - 1)\)-arc in PG\((k - 1, q)\) of size \( n = (s+1)(q+1) + k - 3 \) admits a unique extension to a maximal arc, provided \( s + 2 \mid q \) and \( s < q - 2 \). This result extends the classical characterizations of maximal arcs in PG\((2,q)\) and connects naturally to the theory of A$^s$MDS codes. Our findings establish conditions under which linear codes of given dimension and Singleton defect can be uniquely extended to maximal-length projective codes.
title When Arcs Extend Uniquely: A Higher-Dimensional Generalization of Barlotti's Result
topic Combinatorics
Discrete Mathematics
Primary: 94B65, Secondary: 94B25, 94B27
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.06193